Written in 1973 but not published until now (by the great Hard Case Crime imprint), THE LAST MATCH is the final novel written by David Dodge, author of PLUNDER OF THE SUN, an earlier Hard Case release, among numerous other novels. Spanning several continents and decades, it’s the story of an unnamed American con artist and small-time crook who has a few noble qualities despite the shady life he leads.
A lot of crimes take place in the course of the novel and there are some tough action scenes, but overall THE LAST MATCH isn’t nearly as dark and hardboiled as many of the Hard Case books. Rather, the tone is that of an unrepentant rogue spinning yarns about the life he’s led, a life that he has thoroughly enjoyed. Dodge’s breezy, fast-paced style is an absolute joy to read, and the scenes of local color on the Riviera and in South America are excellent. The book is a little too long and the plot meanders around a little too much for my taste, but the characters are uniformly intriguing, as are the various con games and swindles in which the narrator gets involved. It’s all capped off nicely by an afterword written by Dodge’s daughter that talks about how much of the novel was taken from real life. This is a fine addition to the Hard Case Crime line, with the usual very nice cover, and comes highly recommended by me.
7 comments:
"THE LAST MATCH isn’t nearly as dark and hardboiled as many of the Hard Case books."
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Hard Case is an interesting imprint, in part because the titles vary widely in their degrees of hard-boiledness. I liked Dodge's Plunder of the Sun a lot, but the adventure elements probably outweigh the hard-boiled elements (and both are excellent).
Richard Powell's Say It WIth Bullets was just too much fun too be hard boiled and, as for Bust, any book that makes me laugh that much can't be all hard boiled. Grifter's Game, on the other hand, is as noir as noir gets, and 361 and Fade to Blonde move in that area, too. I think Hard Case is about to publish a novel by David Goodis, and you know that won't be a barrel of laughs.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder is More Fun Away From Home"
I think you could say the same about the original hardboiled paperback publishers, such as GM, Lion and Signet.
Gold Medal books really varied widely in tone, ranging from, say, Jim Thompson's THE KILLER INSIDE ME to Richard S. Prather's STRIP FOR MURDER (both excellent books, by the way).
One of the great comic Gold Medals is Let Them Eat Bullets. The title along makes it worth owning.
Is LET THEM EAT BULLETS by Howard Schoenfeld, or something like that? If it's the one I'm remembering, it's really good, and I believe my copy came from the Crider Collection when it was housed in Brownwood.
Yeow, from Shell Scott to Jim Thompson. It's interesting that Hard Case is following that interesting pattern.
Thanks for the history lesson!
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder is More Fun Away From Home"
I thought The Last Match rambled a bit, which is why I liked Plunder of the Sun a bit better. The biographical note from Dodge's daughter gives a possible clue: Dodge wrote the book after he had stropped traveling, and he pulled together recollections from many different journeys. That could make for a rambling story.
I've posted about both Dodge novels on my blog at http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/search/label/David%20Dodge Drop in and leave a comment!
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
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